


Springlocked Butterflies

by TheLuckOfTheClaws



Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe, F/M, Fire, Human/Monster Romance, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Interspecies Relationship(s), It doesn’t matter if she’s security girl or not but for the sake of this she is, Luis is kind of an incel, Size Difference, Touch-Starved, Vanny is 27 and Will died when he was 40, Vanny is the FNAF 3 guard in this, also tape girl’s name is Gwen, hes always given me bad vibes so I write him like that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:20:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27800665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLuckOfTheClaws/pseuds/TheLuckOfTheClaws
Summary: In this AU, Vanny takes a job at Fazbears Fright. Springtrap tossed his own humanity aside long ago, but finds himself accidentally getting attached to his newest night guard. Can this unlikely friendship last?
Relationships: Springtrap & reluctant follower, Springtrap/Reluctant Follower, William Afton | Dave Miller & Reluctant Follower, William Afton | Dave Miller & Vanessa, William Afton | Dave Miller/Reluctant Follower, William Afton | Dave Miller/Vanessa, william Afton | Dave Miller/Mrs. Afton (mentioned)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 23





	1. Chapter 1

The dude over the phone droned on and on about nothing while Vanessa shifted uncomfortably in her swivel chair. She hadn’t wanted this job all that much, and she definitely didn’t want to be working her first shift here on Halloween night, but she _did_ want to be able to pay bills, so she took the position at this dumb horror attraction anyway. At least the pay at Fazbears Fright wasn’t too bad, even if she had to come in unexpectedly with zero training due to the person who was supposed to be working this Halloween having apparently gotten sick. Vanessa zoned out from the message coming through the phone, thinking about how long it would be before she could get out of here. She’d promised the few friends she did have that she’d show up at a Halloween get together for once instead of just holing up in her place by herself like usual. And since she found out that she would be coming into her new job a day early, she’d have almost no time after work to get to Gwen’s house. That was why she’d brought her costume with her; a simple mask of a white rabbit with red eyes and a brown patch. She half-heard the recording mention something about a rabbit, but by the time she tuned back in it had stopped playing. Vanny put the mask on experimentally; maybe six hours of sitting around in a dark, run-down building could be a little more fun with a mask on? She doubted it.

***

Springtrap growled softly to himself as his eyes flickered open to the same dingy backroom. He glanced up at the cameras, mildly surprised to not see the blinking light that indicated it was on. Was there no guard tonight? He wouldn’t be surprised if they hadn’t been able to fill the position yet, not after he sent the last one home in several pieces. Spring quite liked the thought of a little privacy for once. He wandered slowly through the halls, none of the cameras active and no audio lures of happy children calling him in any particular direction. This had to be too good to be true, he was calling it. Maybe they were trying to trick him. He climbed up into the vent to get a look at the office, crawling forward slowly and stealthily. As he approached the opening, he pressed himself flat against the bottom of the vent and tried to peer into the room. There was someone—some _thing_ moving around in there. They turned slight towards him and he almost gasped. Was that...another rabbit? Had the theme park owners locked another animatronic in the office? Maybe he could get them out. Springtrap crept closer and closer, until his ears poked out the tip of the vents. He reached forward, grabbing the white rabbit by the shoulders and yanking her back into the vents with him, dragging her backwards to the saferoom.

***

Vanny was beginning to wish she’d actually paid attention to what the phone dude was saying, she had absolutely no idea how to do anything. She couldn’t work the cameras, and the maintenance panel read that the video had crashed. But so far, peering nervously through the window in front of her, she hadn’t seen or heard anything of the thing she was supposed to be guarding. Was that a good or bad sign?

She eventually gave up trying to fix the cameras and focused on the other failing systems. She leaned back in her chair a little bit when a large clawed paw reached around her from behind and yanked her upwards into the vents. Vanessa froze with shock and terror, and the vent was too narrow to turn around and look at whatever was taking her away. Soon she was being pulled headfirst out of the vents, held close in the furry arms of something absolutely enormous. She slowly looked up to see the tattered form of a 7-foot-tall metal rabbit looking down at her, not with malice, but curiosity. There was a moment of silence as both parties just stared at each other.

Then Vanessa’s mask, dislodged from when she was dragged through the vent, slipped off her head and fell to the tile floor with a clatter. Springtrap’s demeanor changed immediately, dropping her like she’d burned him. How had that mask fooled him like he was one of the Toys? He’d realized over the years that his mind had been changing to obey the programming of the animatronic his soul inhabited, but he hadn’t realized it affected him to that extent. The human he could now see underneath the mask scrambled back, pressing herself against the wall. Her green eyes widened as she realized she was backed into a corner of the room, Springtrap looming just above her, the vent on the wall in between them. The terrified human had long blonde hair with rainbow tips, and she wore one of the white nightguard uniform shirts underneath a grey hoodie. Springtrap bared his teeth with a screech and she squeezed her eyes shut, throwing an arm up over her face. He was angry about the deception with the mask, but that probably wasn’t her fault; he was more angry at himself for falling for it. So he didn’t lunge for the kill. When he was alive, he’d never killed just for death’s sake. It had felt like a game, to lure them away. It was still a game to him now, hunting through the halls of the attraction to get to the guards. To hurt this guard who hadn’t done anything to stop him just wouldn’t feel fair. 

He wanted to say something to let her know that she’d be okay, but it had been so long since he’d even spoken to anyone else. He had no idea what to say in this situation. 

“Um...hello.”

After several seconds passed and she realized she was alive, Vanny cracked an eye open slowly. 

“You can _speak_?!”

“Well, yes.”

“Okay. Okay, fine. Great. I’m going to spend my last moments talking to a giant fluffy murderbun. Fucking perfect.”

“No, no, I’m not going to hurt you! Sorry about the whole, er, air vent thing. That’s...that’s just a bit of a glitch.”

Springtrap crouched down to get closer to her eye level and seem less threatening. She relaxed slightly and reached out to touch his one complete ear, which he allowed. 

“Then why’d you drag me out of the office?”

Springtrap pointed at the mask. 

“All the older models like me have a bug where they saw anyone in the building after hours as an animatronic. The cameras weren’t being used, and when I saw what I thought was another animatronic locked in the office, I…” It seemed a little silly now, looking back. “I thought that maybe I could help them and get them out of there. I’ve been alone here for a long time. I never expected to be talking to a human again, though, that’s for sure.” 

“So you’re...lonely?”

“Lonely? Where'd you get that idea? No, I’m a naturally solitary creature, I don’t get lonely.”

Now it was Springtrap’s turn to look away, crossing his arms. Vanny chuckled.

“You’re made of metal, I don’t think there’s anything natural about you. Uh, no offense.”

Oh, right. For all she knew, he was just basically just a talking furry robot. He decided to keep it that way; he didn’t need to burden this woman with all the grisly history Faz Ent kept carefully tucked away.

“I guess you’re right about that, but that doesn’t mean I’m not solitary.”

“Even if you were a real rabbit, real rabbits hate being alone. They need friends. I think you’re just being grumpy,” Vanny noted. She pushed herself up into a more comfortable sitting position with her legs crossed. She smiled at him and he huffed.

Maybe he was just losing his touch from being alone in that room for so long, but this scratched the itch for social interaction he’d been missing, even when he tried to convince himself that he was better off alone. They talked for the next several hours, until they heard the sound of the clock in her office beeping to announce 6AM. Vanny stood quickly, snatching her mask up.

“I’ve gotta go. See you tomorrow, I guess?”

Springtrap watched her go to the exit doors, moving against the wall to keep her face toward him until she went through them. He waited a couple seconds and then ran up, catching the door just before it closed all the way to get one last look at her before she was gone. He’d missed human interaction more than he thought he would. Maybe a little company would be better than playing his deadly game night after night.


	2. Chapter 2

Vanny arrived at the tail end of the party, looking forward to putting that strange encounter with the animatronic out of her mind at least until tomorrow night. It hadn’t been that big of a party to begin with, so there weren’t a lot of people left. Still, it looked like they were all having fun dancing and eating Halloween candy in low-effort costumes. She found Gwen sitting by the radio with a couple cassette tapes, all with playlists of songs she’d made herself. Her friend smiled at her. Gwen was dressed as an astronaut, her light brown hair in a bun inside her bubble-shaped helmet.

“Hiya, Ness! Glad to see you made it,” she said.

“Yeah, I'm glad I was able to come at all. I would have gotten here earlier, but I had to go in to my new job a day early because apparently the other guy called in sick and they had no one else to cover the shift. Sorry I’m late.”

“It’s fine, I get it. Have fun.”

Vanessa nodded and walked further into the house. She hadn’t eaten in hours, so she went to get some snacks. As she quietly munched on a pumpkin-shaped sugar cookie, someone put their hand on her shoulder. Vanny recoiled away, whipping her head around to see Luis Cabrera. She narrowed her eyes; she hadn’t known Gwen had invited  _ him _ . Luis seemed okay enough, he was always nice to her, but something about him just put her on guard. Luis grinned.

“Heyy, Ness. I thought you weren’t gonna come! Been waiting for you to show up.”

“Yeah, well, something came up. Work stuff. I’m here now, though.” Vanny side-stepped away from him, made awkwardly polite conversation, exited the room as soon as possible, and tried to avoid him for the rest of the night. Other than the looming presence of Luis, she did have a pretty good time. But she couldn’t stop thinking about the animatronic from work and his odd behavior. When she got home, she opened her laptop to do some research about the old Fredbear’s Diner and the animatronics it once held.

***

The next night, Springtrap found himself looking forward to the guard’s return. By 1AM she’d at least figured out the cameras this time; he could see the red light blinking down at him for a moment before turning off again. Then he heard her step outside the office, calling out, “Hey, c’mere!”

Well. This wouldn’t do. He approached, looming over her in the doorway and she reached up without fear to touch the fur on his cheek. That stunned him for several seconds before he had the wherewithal to question “What are you doing?”

“Keeping an eye on you. That’s my job, isn’t it?” she replied, taking a step back to sit in her swivel chair.

“Well, yes, I suppose, but usually-”

Springtrap couldn’t think of her as the prey in this maze. She wasn’t connected to any of this.

“Usually you’re supposed to be guarding yourself from me,” he finished lamely.

“Why should I? That’s just the role you play in the attraction, and it won’t open for a while. You’re soft and fairly polite.”

There it was. She had no idea who he was, and came with a completely different set of expectations. And he realized that he didn’t want to disappoint her.

“What’s your name?” he asked suddenly, “You know mine since it’s a part of the ride, but I don’t know yours. It didn’t come up before. I have to call you something if we’re going to be working together.”

She cocked her head to the side as she looked up at him. 

“My name’s Vanessa, but you can call me Vanny or Ness, most of my friends do. Are you a fan of nicknames?”

Springtrap chuckled.

“You could say that, yes.”

He tapped his hands against the floor, unsure of where to go from here with the conversation.

“So, tell me about yourself? What’s it like out there, being a person?”

Vanny spun around slowly in the chair as she pondered that.

“I don’t really get out much, not unless my friends make me. There’s this guy who’s kind of bothering me and he always shows up. I went to a concert a while back. I’ve got a lot of music to listen to, actually, can I show it to you? It would be better than sitting here in silence.”

Springtrap felt a twinge of...something,  _ certainly  _ not jealousy (why would he be jealous? He has nothing to be jealous about). He cleared his throat, or what was left of it anyway.

“What kind of music? As long as it’s not a music box, that would be lovely.”

Vanny fished her phone out, setting it down in between them. She played some songs she liked, mostly rock and electro. Springtrap found that he preferred the latter kind, bopping his head to the beat a few times. Something started playing that sounded a bit jazzier, like songs from his time. He couldn’t really identify the genre.

“What is this? It’s nice.” he asked.

“Electro-swing,” she replied, “and thank you. I guess this is one way to pass the time, not like there’s a lot to do here for six hours. Sort of off-topic question, do you like to dance?”

“Huh?”

“You’re one of the old Fredbear animatronics, right? Isn’t that what they did, dance and stuff? Can you dance?”

“Maybe, but...I don’t know. It’s been a long time,” he admitted.

“Aw, come on, at least give it a try,” she asked plaintively.

“Not to this, we didn’t dance to this kind of music.” 

He crossed his arms. 

“So you can dance, just not to this kind of music? Alright, I consider that a challenge.”

Vanny began switching through other songs and genres, trying to find one he’d be more acclimated to. A soft piano piece came on and he paused.

“Wait, I think I’ve heard this before.”

He furrowed his brow, racking his brain for the reason why this song was so familiar to him. Then it clicked.

His wife. They’d danced this together, many times before. God, why hadn’t he known that?

God, why couldn’t he remember her face?

His ears went back, and distress must have been visible on his face because Vanny paused the song and asked “Is something wrong?”

“I—I don’t want to talk anymore.” 

Springtrap took a step back and then turned, bolting back into the attraction’s halls, ignoring her confused shout for him to come back. He climbed into the nearest vent and went into the saferoom, off of the cameras where she wouldn’t be able to find him. For the rest of the night, he heard the cameras click off and on as she tried to find him in them, and eventually some footsteps as she left her office and wandered the halls. Eventually, blissfully, she had to leave at 6 am. He poked his head out of his hiding space to watch her leave for the night.


	3. Chapter 3

Vanny was left confused and concerned by Spring’s sudden reaction, and worst of all she had no idea why it had happened. Was it something she’d done? Would he even want to talk to her again tomorrow? She shivered in the chilly autumn air as she opened the exit doors. Luis was standing right outside, not two inches from the threshold. He put a hand out to lean against the doorframe.

“Hey, Ness. What’s up?”

“How the  _ hell _ did you find where I work?” she demanded. Luis shrugged, “Gwen told me. Wasn’t sure when you got off, so I’ve been hanging around for a while now. ‘S late out, can I walk you home?” 

“I can go home by myself, thank you very much. I’m sorry that you’ve wasted your time, but if you could just move out of the way-” 

“Aw, come on. You’re gonna send me on my way after I’ve waited out in the cold for you?”

Luis advanced into the room and Vanny took a step back. He looked around and scoffed.

“Geez, even for a theme park this looks run-down.”

“It’s a horror attraction, it’s supposed to look like that.”

“What’s so scary about an abandoned pizzeria for little kids? What junk do they even have you guarding in here, anyway?”

Suddenly, Luis stiffened, staring up at something behind her.

“That would be me,” snarled Springtrap, making his presence known, “and it looks like you’ve let your guard down.”

Several things happened in the span of barely a few seconds. Springtrap lunged forward from his position directly behind Vanny, pulling her towards him and wrapping his jaws around her neck, poised to bite. Luis shrieked like a little girl and ran back out the door. A gust of wind slammed the door shut again just as Springtrap released her, dropping the act of ferocity. Vanny stumbled away from him, aghast. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes.

“What the  _ fuck _ is wrong with you?!”

“What do you mean? I just frightened that guy off! He’s the one who’s been bothering you, hasn’t he?”

“Oh, is that what you were trying to do? Because what with your mood swings today, I thought you were about to tear my throat out! Jesus Christ, I didn’t need or ask you to do that. I  _ have _ pepper spray. I can handle Luis on my own. Not that he’ll bother me again, because I’m dead now for all he knows.”

“Well, getting him to leave you alone was kind of the goal-”

Vanny threw her hands up in the air, turning away from him. This time she was the one to ignore his plaintive cry as she shouldered past the doors to go home.

***

The next night, the halls were quiet. Too quiet. Springtrap kicked himself internally; how could he be so  _ impulsive _ ?! The one person he had to talk to and he’d frightened them off. He walked through the halls, feeling the gaze of the cameras more than ever. He got to the start of the hall that led to her office and began “Vanny, listen-”

An audio lure played in the room behind him. The animatronic programming was meant to seek out children, so he could only helplessly obey, straying back into the other room. He didn’t try to go near her again, straying out of sight of the cameras, and she didn’t turn on another lure. When she couldn’t find him, the cameras clicked off. Springtrap slunk back to his hidey-hole to mope. He laid his head in his arms and shut his eyes.

After a while, Springtrap heard a strange popping sound coming from the breaker room. He crept in to investigate and gasped.

The fuse box was sparking like mad, most of the wall surrounding it was on fire, and it was already spreading rapidly through the dilapidated room and into the vents. Springtrap scrambled away from the doorway. That fire could put an end to everything and he knew it. Even if he could get to the doors, his programming wouldn’t allow him to leave the building. Vanny might be right about the torn-up building being that way on purpose, but that didn’t mean it was any less flammable. Oh god— _ Vanny _ . She was trapped in here with him. In the few moments of hesitation brought on by that thought, the flames had already leapt about. He dropped to all fours and sprinted down through hallways that were already filling with smoke and heat. The side of the large L shapers room that led into her office had a wall of fire between him and the door. He pressed himself against the glass to try and see through the smoke but it clouded the air beyond visibility. Springtrap slammed his paws against the glass over and over again until it shattered and then climbed through.

“Vanny? Vanny, where are you?” he shouted. He was met with a burst of coughing from the ground. He knelt down to find her sprawled across the ground, trying to avoid inhaling the smoke. She tried to bat him away, to little success.

“What’s going on?” she asked frantically.

“Faulty wiring. Whole place is going up now. I’ll get you out, just hold on.” 

This time as he picked her up, trying to stay low to the ground, she didn’t pull away.

“This feels a little familiar. Keep your head down and hold your breath, please,” he muttered. 

A little delirious, she replied “You smell like cooked bacon.”

He went back through the shattered window and out into the maze of burning hallways again. He ran as fast as he could, ducking under falling beams and burning rubble. He finally made it to the doors and tried to set her down. 

“I can’t open them or exit the building; my programming doesn’t let me leave. Get out while you still can.”

“And just leave you to burn?” 

He glanced at the blazing room around them nervously. “We don’t have time for this!”

“Shut up, you stupid fuzzball, and listen. You weren’t built here, were you? They must have moved you in and out when you were first made. So can you leave if it’s someone else taking you?”

“I-I don’t know. Vanny, please, don’t risk it-”

“Shut your eyes and go limp.”

Taken slightly aback, he did as she asked. He felt a small human hand grip his own firmly and then heard the heavy door scraping slowly open. Then he let himself be dragged out the burning structure, feeling concrete under his paws as they got several feet away. He tripped over something and fell forward, catching himself just before he landed on her. He pulled back and she scooted out from under him, trying to rub some of the soot off of her face. They took a breather and turned back to watch the building burn to the ground. 


	4. Chapter 4

The roof of Fazbear's Fright caved in in a shower of sparks.

It occurred to Springtrap that with the building demolished, he could go wherever he wanted now. He was freed from the confines of his no-roam programming.

“Vanny, I’m sorry for scaring you yesterday. I didn't know that you wanted to handle it on your own.”

“It’s okay. I overreacted a little too. I...should call the fire department,” Vanny noted, “but I left my phone at home. I need to go talk to the guard at the gate, he’ll have a phone. What about you?”

“Huh?”

“With the attraction gone, they have nothing else to do with you. I don’t want them to take you apart for scrap.”

Springtrap figured he’d be able to hide from the park owners well enough to avoid that fate on his own, but he didn’t want to be alone any more.

“...can I come with you?”

“To get a phone so they can stop the fire?”

“No, to...to wherever you go when you leave. And maybe I could hide out there. I know I’m a bit big but I’m good at making myself scarce ‘n hiding in plain sight, no one will ever know I was there,” he assured her. She laughed a little.

“Spring, you don’t have to hide from me; it’s not like anyone ever comes over. Don’t let them see you, I’ll come find you after everything gets sorted out.”

“You should see a doctor first, inhaling all that smoke can’t be good for you. I can hide out around here, I’ll be by the gate tomorrow.”

She nodded and began to limp to the front gate. He retreated into the bushes and kept pace with her. When she approached the gate guard, distracting him, Springtrap stealthily crept outside the park. As he hid, he took the time to examine the damage from the fire. The last of the meat still in his chest cavity was thankfully gone, sloughed off by the flames. Now there was just bone wrapped in wire and metal. His fur was scorched and tearing open in new places and his left arm, the one he hadn’t been using to carry Vanny, was nearly bare metal. What was formerly half of an ear was now completely gone, and the complete ear was missing most of the upper half. He waited there for her in silence, with a fire truck driving past after a while. The park didn’t open for the next day because of the fire, which he was thankful for as it meant that there were fewer people around to hide from. As it got dark, he crept out of hiding to use a water fountain to attempt to wash some of the ash and grime off his once bright yellow fur, to partial success.

At around 11pm, he saw Vanny loitering around the gate. He stepped out of the shadows, shaking some leaves off his shoulders as he stood up to his full height.

“Good evening. It’s nice to see you again, I trust you’re doing well?”

Vanny smiled at him and reached up to pat him.

“You don’t need to be so formal, Springs. And yes, I’m fine, I didn’t breathe in near enough smoke to cause any major problems. Now, get outta here before someone sees you.” 

He trailed after her as she led the way. Vanny lived in a small house and he had to duck under the doorframe when he went inside. Her home was warm, cozy, and filled with sentimental objects; so unlike the bare and clammy halls of Fazbear’s Fright. Vanny closed the door behind them as he stood in the center of her living room, towering over her.

“Looks like you got pretty beat up in that fire, huh?” she noticed. He waved it off.

“Better me than you. Besides, I couldn’t feel a thing. I’m just glad you’re alright.”

The second sentence was a lie; he could feel everything. But he didn’t want her to worry about him.

“Well, I’m out of work again, but that’s better than the alternative. I just wish I knew how to fix you up some, maybe patch those tears,” Vanny added.

“I don’t mind the rips in my fur. They add character. I’d hardly look nearly as fierce without them.” 

Springtrap bared his teeth and clawed at the air in an exaggerated ‘scary’ manner. She laughed.

“It’s a shame the attraction never got to open, you’d scare the pants off anyone who showed up.”

“Of course I would,” he replied, putting a paw on his chest and puffing it out. Vanny opened her mouth to say something but yawned instead. She wrinkled her nose.

“Well, I’ve had an eventful week. I’m going to go to bed. I don’t know if I have anything for you to sleep on that would be big enough to support your weight, but, y’know, as long as it doesn’t break when you lie on it feel free to be anywhere.”

She scratched the sides of his muzzle and he purred. “Thank you,” he rumbled. She left the room and Springtrap stood somewhat awkwardly in the living room by himself. He investigated some of her house the way he’d normally wander through the halls at this hour, trying to be delicate with everything he touched. After several hours, he trailed through the door Vanny had gone through, his ears brushing up against the top of the frame. Vanny was asleep, her bed surrounded by band posters on all four walls. She stirred as she heard his footsteps, jolting back before realizing it was her new enormous fuzzy roommate standing in the doorway. 

“...Hey,” she grunted softly, still half asleep.

“Hey. Sorry if I woke you. I get more active at night, and...and I got lonely,” Springtrap reluctantly replied.

“So you’ll finally admit that. I win,” she decided contentedly. She pushed herself up by one hand.

“Yes, well...I was hoping you would maybe...let me be here? You were an excellent night guard while it lasted. So let it be my turn to guard over you.”

He crept closer, kneeling down so they were eye to eye. Smiling sleepily, she leaned forward to nuzzle her face against his. 

“C’mon then. I did say you could be anywhere as long as you didn’t break anything.”

Cotton tail wagging, he moved around to carefully climb up at the foot of the bed. It creaked slightly as he distributed his weight across it, lying on his side. He was atop the blanket with Vanny underneath it, her back pressed against his chest. He felt her breathing slow as she went back to sleep, and for the first time in 30 years, Springtrap dozed off as well. 


End file.
